Lamps equipped with a lever switch have been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-22633. The conventional switch lamp structure disclosed therein generally includes a pair of sockets formed by bending a plate in such a manner that the central portion of the plate becomes the bottom. The socket has a pair of confronting fastening members each of which has a fastening hole. The base has socket-insertion holes formed at predetermined intervals, each of which has a projection formed its confronting inner surfaces which can be fitted within the fastening hole formed in each of the pair of fastening members. A switch lever is fastened to the base and an elastic member constituting a switch mechanism is structured in such a manner that an end portion thereof is secured to the base at a position between either of the sockets and the switch lever. Another end portion of the elastic member is arranged to be brought into selected contact with the fastening members of either of the sockets.
The conventional switch structure described above has been developed so as to be used mainly as an interior automotive lamp. However, since the switch lever projects horizontally over the base (which is formed flat so that a lamp may be mounted thereto), the switch lever must be moved parallel to the flat base surface. Therefore, handling of the switch lever has been inefficient. What is even worse, however, is that the supporting shaft mechanism portion of the lever can be easily worn after it has been used frequently for a prolonged period of time, especially in the case where the supporting shaft mechanism is made of a plastics material. Therefore, manufacturing the conventional switch described above has been relatively complicated since the lever must be caulked and/or deformed in order to prevent separation of the lever.